A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N D
The Diorama Essays : Notes, Bibliography and Links
The following are notes, a bibliography and links provided by the website editor Russell Naughton related to the essays on Daguerre's Diorama by R. Derek Wood
The Diorama in Great Britain in the 1820s
First published in the quarterly journal History of Photography, Autumn 1993 (Vol 17, #3 pp. 284-295). The online version appears with the kind permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd London
Daguerre and his Diorama in the 1830s : some financial announcements
First published in Photoresearcher, European Society for the History of Photography, Croydon, UK., No 6 (1994/95/96), pp.35-40
Notes
The author (R. Derek Wood) and editor (Dr Russell Naughton) would like to acknowlege the assistance and co-operation of the publishers of the original print version of this essay, Taylor & Francis, London, UK. Taylor & Francis may be also contacted by eMail.
Bibliography
Altick, Richard D., The Shows of London, Cambridge, Mass., USA : Belknap Press, 1978
Gernsheim, Helmut & Allison, L. J. M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype, Dover Publications, NY., USA., 1968
History of Photography quarterly publication from
Taylor & Francis, London
Potonnièe, Georges, Daguerre, Peintre et Dècorateur, Paris, Fr., : Paul Montel, 1935
and notably, Daguerre's own words...Daguerre, L. J. M., Histoire et description des procedes du daguerreotype et du diorama 'Daguerre's Manual' (sic.) various publishers 1839 cont. and discussed in detail in
Daguerre's Manual: A Bibliographical Enigma, by Pierre G. Harmant
The Original (or more exactly, ONE of the original issues)
Daguerre, L. J. M., Histoire et description des procedes du daguerreotype et du diorama ... et augmentées de notes et d'observations par MM. Lerebours et Susse Frerès, Paris. Lerebours, opticien de l'observatoire, [Nov?] 1839 / [Second variant edition published in conjunction with Susse Frerès] et Paris: Susse Frerès 8vo. pp. (iv), 79 + 4 pages of additional notes by Lerebours and Susse Frerès on their early trials of the technique, with the 6 original illustrations and the addition of a frontispiece portrait of Daguerre by F. J. Collignon 1
the Bibliofind entry also included the following...
"L'interet de cette brochure reside essentiallement dans sa contemporanete avec l'avenement de la photographie et dans la role qu'elle a joue dans la propagation de l'invention. Louis Jacques Daguerre s'y acquittait d'une obligation: la convention qu'il avait signee le 14 juin 1839 avec le ministre de l'Intreieur lui imposait de livrer ses secrets si l'Etat s'engageait a lui verser une pension (qu' il accordait egalement au fils de Niepce). Il en fit aussi un instrument de reclame personnelle: il desirait que la posterite vit en lui l'initiateur principal d'un progres si capital pour l'humanite. Cette publication fut enfin l'une des pieces de sa strategie pour assurer la diffusion et le succes commercial du procede. La contribution personnelle de Daguerre est modeste: les schemas pour les planches, et les 25 pages d'explications techniques sont redigees sans grand soin ni souci pedagogique." Bernard Marbot
A Modern Reprint (typical)
Daguerre, L. J. M., Historical and Descriptive Account of the Various Processes of the Daguerreotype and the Diorama : by Daguerre. Illustrated, with an introduction by Beaumont Newhall.; NY, Winter House 1971. large 8vo cloth, slipcase; 282pp, 50 ills and diagrams. Both London and Paris editions of 1839 reproduced.
1. R. Derek Wood adds:
The main interest of this Lerebours edition is the portrait of Daguerre by F. J. Collignon (husband of Felicity Arrowsmith, daughter of Charles Arrowsmith). For portraits taken by Daguerre, and concerning Lerebours and Claudet taking low light daguerreotypes, see my translation of Paul Marillier's Daguerre, Claudet, Lerebours: their early use of "instantaneous" daguerreotypes
Currently being sought for inclusion on this site, two essays mentioned on the 1997 Magic Lantern Society convention website and coordinated by Dr Richard Crangle at the University of Exeter
How did Daguerre' s Moon Shine? Technical Aspects of Daguerre' s Diorama, Catherine Ganz, Switzerland, 1997
When the Moon Shines: the Magic of Light and Change in Transparent Painting Between 1780 and 1860, Birgit Verwiebe, Germany, 1997. |
Birgit Verwiebe is also the author of the book Lichtspiele - Vom Mondscheintransparent zum Diorama ISBN: 3-9803451-5-7, Georg Fuesslin, Germany
Painting and light has fascinated generations of admirers of both art and entertainment. This book describes painting with light, not painted light effects, but real light, penetrating the paintings like a transparency to fascinate the viewer. This light experience was completely different from the customary impression made by paintings. And this fascination caused the successs of this art of illusion.
Around 1780, at the threshold of modern time, news and descriptions of social events were recorded on transparent material for presentation in darkened rooms. Forty years later "moonlight transparencies" and "fireworks" became highly popular in dioramas, where exceptionally large and illuminated transparent screens showed views from all over the world.
The illusion was most fascinating because the pictures were close to reality. People had a chance to esperience world events without really taking part in them. This was "travelling" without really travelling. As an ingenious combination of art and business, the diorama was an early form of "art industriel", a forerunner of later photographic and cinematographic techniques which was the most important predecessor of modern light media.
Lichtspiele - Vom Mondscheintransparent zum Diorama hat die Autorin Birgit Verwiebe ihre Untersuchung zur Geschichte des Transparentbildes genannt, Formen der Unterhaltung, die durchaus als Vorläufer des Kinos anzusehen sind. Waren es zuerst nur gemalte Bilder, in der Regel Mondscheinlandschaften, die von hinten durch eine Lichtquelle angestrahlt wurden, so entstand bald in der Verbindung zwischen gemaltem Bild und Beleuchtungstechnik die Illusion der Bewegung, begleitet durch Geräusche, Musik und Erklärungen vor Publikum im Diaphanorama bzw.
Diorama. Neben stationären Einrichtungen gingen die Hersteller solcher gemalter Bilder auch auf Tournee. Die Autorin hat sich insbesondere mit bedeutenden Schöpfern solcher Transparente, so u.a. Caspar David Friedrich oder Daguerre, beschäftigt. Der Band wird durch eine Vielzahl von Abbildungen verschiedenster Transparentvorlagen, zumüberwiegenden Teil in Farbe, bereichert. Die Untersuchung ist ein wichtiger Beitrag zu einem Teilgebiet der Geschichte der Alltagskultur. Dietmar Winkler
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Biographical Studies
Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé
also, selected contemporary painters, architects and in some cases 'showmen' who worked on and or promoted dioramas, panoramas, traveling panoramas and cycloramas
THIS LISTING IS IN PREPARATION : most links have not yet been assigned : June 12, 2000
Arrowsmith, John (architect)
Bouton, Charles Marie (painter)
Loutherbourg, Philip C., de (painter and showman)
Nash, John (architect)
Pugin, Auguste [usually also called Augustus} Charles
"Auguste Charles Pugin (1762-1832) architect, archaeologist, and architectural artist: born in France; came to London c. 1798; employed by John Nash in making drawings of Gothic buildings; had little practice, but became famous as an educator of young architects, particularly his own son Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852); paved the way for the real revival of Gothic architecture which followed the 'Strawberry-Hill' enthusiasm". Concise [British] Dictionary of National Biography
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